Celebrities Star In Real Estate Roles

September 10, 1989|By Ruth Ryon Los Angeles Times

New York blizzards and a Broadway part that he hated convinced actor Dick Derr, a leading man in the 1950s, to house-sit in California for a friend.

The first night Derr was in Hollywood, he met another actor who talked him into going to real estate school. ''When I got there, I knew half the people in the room,'' Derr said, referring to show-business acquaintances.

He finished school, got his real estate license and began a 25-year career selling homes on the west side of Los Angeles.

Derr is one of dozens of actors, athletes and other celebrities and quasi-celebs who have carved out new careers selling Southern California real estate.

They range from former University of California, Los Angeles, quarterback Gary Beban to Dodger pitcher Joe Moeller, from actress Phyllis Avery, who was a regular on TV in the 1950s and '60s, to veteran character actor Jack Ging, to a former Rockette and a Las Vegas showgirl.

They say they were drawn to real estate by its similarities to their lives in the limelight: flexible hours, a feeling of independence, working on a project basis, the opportunity to negotiate, an element of risk, people orientation and a need for self-discipline.

Beban, the 1967 Heisman Trophy winner from UCLA who is now president of Los Angeles-based Coldwell Banker Commercial Real Estate Services, said, ''All the aspects of discipline and sacrifice that go into being a success in athletics can be used to be a success in business.''

Like Beban, some former celebrities break entirely with their former professions, while others try to balance careers.

Talking about such co-starring roles as the one he played in the movie When Worlds Collide (1951, with Barbara Rush), Derr, who works with Mimi Styne Associates in Beverly Hills, Calif., said, ''I'm no longer a name, but I still do some small parts.''

Veteran character actor Ging works in the movies and TV as much as he does in real estate. He was in the TV miniseries War and Remembrance and its predecessor, Winds of War. He appeared as a regular on TV's Riptide and The A-Team series, and is preparing to do a movie with Clint Eastwood.

At 57, Ging has been an actor for 30 years. He has been selling homes for the Fred Sands' office in Malibu, Calif., for 10 years.

''Being a character actor, I had a lot of time on my hands, so I started selling real estate. A woman broker I knew said I would be a natural because I knew everybody. . . . I just did a show with Brian Keith and sold him a house.''

Most of the 42 people interviewed for this story said they used acquaintances from their previous professions to advance their real estate careers. Some of the 42 even profit, if only in terms of recognition, from their famous surnames or relatives.

Kraig Kristofferson, younger brother of actor-singer Kris, said, ''In the old days, people didn't know how to spell the name (Kristofferson), but now it's pretty recognizable.'' Kraig Kristofferson has been selling commercial real estate with Coldwell Banker in San Diego for 16 years.

Barbara Robinson, wife of Baltimore Orioles Manager Frank Robinson, said that she has had more entertainers than athletes as clients during her 15 years as a sales agent but credits her marriage for helping her represent such stars as Eddie Murphy, the Jacksons and Julio Iglesias in buying homes. She works at Alvarez, Hyland & Young in Beverly Hills, Calif.

''Athletes and entertainers are very similar in temperament,'' she said. ''They aren't business people. There are no facades. And, after being married to one of these types for 28 years, it's easy for me to understand them.''

Avery is another person who got into real estate after acting.

From age 16, she performed in seven Broadway shows, starting with Charley's Aunt, starring Jose Ferrer. In the '50s, she was Ray Milland's TV wife and George Gobel's second Alice. In the '60s, she was a vice principal on the TV show Mr. Novak, starring James Franciscus. But for the past 20 years, she has been selling houses.

''When I got into (real estate), I had hit the 40-year-old mark, and there wasn't much going on for actresses past the young, leading-lady stage,'' she said. She left show business to sell real estate on Los Angeles' Westside, where she has lived since she was a child.

Valerie Fitzgerald was an Eileen Ford career model for nine years, made 200 commercials and appeared on Love Boat and Fantasy Island before going into real estate, on the advice of a friend, in 1984.

''All the top models in New York were my good buddies,'' she said, ''but few asked themselves, 'What happens when you're not the most beautiful and life is not your oyster?'''

Athletes face much the same problem.

Beban, who wound up his UCLA career in 1968 as an All-American and Heisman winner, called it quits in professional football after only two years.